Phil and Sonya Thomas continue to fight against their local school system. While they wait for the procedure to begin, they feel the matter could have been avoided if their child’s teacher had listened. Now, the matter has come to this. With her lawyer by her side, the parents watch as the principal defends the teacher: she was justified in labeling her son. The experts from the school system also support the teacher. Sonya Thomas struggles to rethink herself. “We don’t care what the experts say. It is not the school’s right to categorize our son. You only look at the outside.” She collapses. “Why can’t you just accept that our son is not white? He is a black American.” The room is silent.

America’s dilemma

As many voters pay attention to the presidential elections, the media continues to remind us of race. With a white mother from Kansas and a black father from Kenya, Barak Obama makes us uncomfortable with his racial background. Some people see it as “too black”, while others state that it is simply “not black enough”. People with a mixed heritage betray our hidden beliefs and sometimes our prejudices. For example, rapper Kanye West in 2006 told Essence Magazine: “If it weren’t for race mixing, there would be no video girls.” Growing up in Louisiana, we lived with the one-drop rule. The one-drop rule holds that individuals of any degree of African descent cannot be white. In fact, it makes that person 100% black. In this narrow point of view, regardless of the mother’s race, the child is determined to be black. Therefore, regardless of a person’s racial preference, society seeks to make its own judgment about an individual based on the person’s skin color. In most cases, society forces children to make a decision at an early age. Shouldn’t we be free from the racial classification of society? Let’s explore this unique situation further.

The historical perspective

During slavery and the Jim Crow era, racial laws were developed to prevent intermarriage and mixing with other races. In the South, determining one’s race was a reality. The term “mulatto” was originally used to describe the union of blacks and whites. From 1870 to 1880, the multatto included gangs, octoroons, and everyone with any discernible trace of African blood. Demographics are now changing in America. According to the 2000 US Census, there are 3.1 million interracial couples. In fact, one in every 20 children is born of a mixed heritage. Many people focus solely on black and white integration. However, this multigenerational movement is much more extensive. According to researchers at the University of Michigan, Asian Americans have the highest rates of interracial and ethnic marriages (approximately 1.5 million children under the age of 17 had an Asian father and a non-Asian father in 1990). Many of today’s most talented celebrities come from a mixed heritage. Among them are Dwayne “The Rock”, Johnson, Halle Berry, Vin Diesel, Derek Jeter, Rachel Smith and Tiger Woods. For many Millennium and Generation Xers, the formation of a multiracial society is normal. Many older Americans are not as comfortable with interracial mixing. However, they are not the only people who face racial problems. Multiracial children often have a difficult time coping with a race-laden society. Charlotte Nitardy, in her article “Identity Problems in Biracial Youth,” noted that biracial children have problems with racial identity problems. In many cases, biracial children are faced with choosing one racial group and rejecting the other in order to survive in society.

The real challenge

Are the old racial labels outdated for this multiracial generation? Anne Tsui and Barbara Gutek, authors of Demographic Differences in Organizations, argue that there is still concern about diversity. They explain: “Beneath the surface of increased activities and some apparent advances in diversity efforts by companies are feelings of discomfort, frustration, confusion and even anger among women and men, ethnic minorities and the white majority.” Today’s children have little concept of segregated life. Dating outside of race is fairly common in most communities. The United States Census has been responsible for tracking racial classification in this country. Clearly, checking a box or multiple boxes for racial identification may not be practical now. In fact, due to interracial dating, sociodemographic changes, and people’s right to self-determine their racial preferences, the census data may make little sense for the United States of the future. Consequently, it can become a distant memory as the multiracial generation continues to expand across the United States. Unfortunately, society still struggles to know how to deal with this multiracial generation. Will America be ready for a multiracial president or a growing multiracial self-identifying generation? I am optimistic that we are ready. The clock ticks in America.